Oral Histories

The SFA oral history program documents life stories from the American South. Collecting these stories, we honor the people whose labor defines the region.

ORAL HISTORY

Sarah Blacklin, manager

Carrboro Farmers' Market

From a young age, Sarah Blacklin has loved spending time outdoors and has sought to draw a more profound connection to growing food. When she was 20 years old she applied to work with farmer Ken Dawson at Maple Spring Gardens in Cedar Grove, North Carolina, and eventually moved to the Outer Banks to pursue her interests in preserving local fisheries in the Piedmont.

A few years later Sarah returned to the Carrboro area, farmed with Ken Dawson for one more year, and was hired as the manager of the Carrboro Farmers’ Market in December 2007. Sarah’s transition from farm hand and market vendor to manager was seamless, and she very quickly began to introduce new elements into the already dynamic Market.

She is particularly passionate about community outreach and food education. She has paired up with scholars and activists like Alice Ammerman of the Gillings Sustainable Agriculture Program within the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and Margaret Gifford, founder and executive director of Farmer Foodshare, to address and ameliorate food acquisition issues in North Carolina.

Sarah values the community spirit that the Carrboro Farmers’ Market fosters among market customers, chefs, farmers, and artisan vendors. She constantly seeks to support Market community and share the collective culinary knowledge of the Market with the surrounding neighborhoods.

WORKING TOGETHER

WE CAN CULTIVATE PROGRESS.

The Southern Foodways Alliance drives a more progressive future by leading conversations that challenge existing constructs, shape perspectives, and foster meaningful discussions. We reconsider the past with research, scrutiny, and documentation.